Here’s something I wish I had known from the day I started roofing because it could have saved my customers some heartache and made Up Armor a few extra dollars. It’s also a clear explanation as to why we do free estimates for retail jobs but we do not offer them at all for insurance jobs. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: “I don’t mean to talk bad about providers, but I promise to always call it like I see it.”
After reading the tagline above, it would be easy to jump to the conclusion that “Of course Up Armor doesn’t want me to get three estimates. One of the other estimates might be lower!” Let me start off by correcting that thought. There actually are a few others that usually are a little bit less expensive than our estimates when quoting retail roof replacements. I’ll even tell you the name of the other roofing companies if you ask me, but let me assure you that losing your business is our fear when we say “Please don’t get three estimates.” Also please consider that we wouldn’t be able to put the highest quality roof on a house with an industry leading warranty if we offered the lowest prices. (Ask us about the difference in quality)
You see, when a provider recommends that you get three estimates, they are fishing for a lower price to payout to the customer. All providers use the same industry standard estimating software called Xactimate to generate their own estimates. If you provide an estimate to them, this is a dollar saving opportunity for them. This is not good for 1. You, the customer or for 2. Up Armor, your contractor. If you provide the lowest bid to the provider, you have likely locked yourself into a lower quality roof and saved the insurance provider money instead of yourself. The provider is going to take the deductible out of your check no matter the size of the check.
Covering part of your deductible for you is illegal for contractors to do so that is not a legal option either and is considered insurance fraud. The other important thing to know is that insurance law states that you have the right to work with whatever contractor you choose so there’s nothing wrong at all about telling the provider that Up Armor will be replacing your roof.
Your cost for your roof is your deductible no matter who you choose to replace it. Do you want the cheapest or the highest quality roof installed?
So do us and yourself a favor. When the provider recommends that you get three estimates, please politely say “I know which contractor I would like to use. Please generate the estimate for me so I know what to pay Up Armor Roofing.”
Great content! Keep up the good work!
As a follow-up, if you’re paying cash for your roof and there’s no insurance involved, it absolutely makes sense to get 3 bids and I encourage that. Price isn’t the only factor in getting a high quality roof installed but roofs are expensive enough that it is financially prudent to get a few quotes to make sure you are getting a fair deal. When I give a bid on a cash roof, I often encourage my customer to get 1 or 2 more bids. Why would I suggest that my customer receive a bid that potentially outbids me? I want them to have peace of mind about our deal. Roofs are expensive and with no comparison another bid sometimes my price is assumed to be unfair even if we were doing the roof at cost. That being said, we’re still seeing insurance providers attempt to take advantage of lower bids on their insurance claim payouts to attempt to underpay their claims.